Nation Group bags 4 awards on Journalist Day

The Nation newspaper won two first-place complimentary awards for news photos as part of the prestigious Isra Amantakul Award. 

The two prizes went to The Nation’s photographer Adisorn Chabsungnuen. 

One of his snaps, “Daredevil”, captured a fireman dousing water on his face to cool himself off after battling a blaze at a plastics factory in Chom Thong district that caused major damage. Another prize was for his “Resistance”, depicting political activist Veera Somkwamkid being arrested by police for defying martial law, which prohibits political gatherings of five people or more, after he and his fellow activists held a campaign for energy reform. 

The TJA, Isra Amantakul Foundation and Thai Society of Environmental Journalists jointly organised a contest for news reports and photos published last year. 

The awards were presented yesterday evening at a Bangkok hotel. The event also marked Thai Journalist Day, which falls on March 5 every year. This year the TJA celebrates its 60th anniversary.

Kom Chad Luek, The Nation’s sister newspaper, also won a second-place complimentary award for a news photo also taken by Adisorn. 

The photo, titled “Heartbreak”, showed a father grieving over his two children who were killed by a grenade that landed in front of the Big C shopping mall on Ratchadamri Road during a People’s Democratic Reform Committee rally. 

Krungthep Turakij newspaper, also hailing from the Nation Group, won a complimentary prize from the Thai Society of Environmental Journalists for its report on the perils of electronic waste. 

There was no recipient for the Top Natural and Environmental Conservation News Award this year. 

On a wider scope of news, the Isra Amantakul Award also did not confer the Best News Report Award to any media outlet this year. 

A Thai Rath newspaper report on the surrogacy business won the Outstanding News Report award. 

The top prize for Best Photograph went to Bangkok Post lensman Thiti Wannamontha, who captured a red-shirt supporter punching a monk in front of the National Anti-Corruption Commission’s office.